Atticus Finch Responds to Go Set A Watchman in YouTube Parody

    NEW YORK, NY, August 12, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- As the controversy regarding the character discrepancies between To Kill A Mockingbird's noble Atticus Finch, an idealized defender of justice, and the surprisingly bigoted version revealed in the recently published Go Set A Watchman continues to be debated, there is now a video in which an arthritic 72-year-old Atticus Finch speaks out for himself.

"When the Vellum Publishing, Inc. team was discussing the new complexities of the Atticus character following the publication of Watchman," said the writer/performer John Arthur Long, who impersonates the elder lawyer in the video, "we began wondering what Atticus might say if he were allowed to speak for himself. Well, theatrical and satirical options arose, and after a basic structure for the format was established, the puns became irresistible and the dramatic parody, 'Atticus Finch For The Defense' was born."

When the Variations Theatre Groups artistic director, Kirk Gostkowski, suggested recording a video of the dramatic piece at The Chain Theatre in Long Island City, Long says that plans for multiple camera angles and various cinematic effects were scrapped in order to allow Atticus to deliver his summation more strongly and directly, keeping it parallel to the classic scene from Mockingbird.

After an overall favorable response to this dramatic parody, Long admits he has been approached with a few offers to play Atticus Finch in other scenarios, but is dubious about a repeat performance. Settling into the elder Southern lawyer's personality with just a hint of Gregory Peck in the vocal inflections and a twinkle in his eye, Long stated that "a talent scout may come, but the proposal would have to be a gem before I would even consider to 'climb into his skin and walk around in it' again."

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GKimH8W4KE

# # #